Too Late For Comfort
by J. Maria
Summary: A dying woman gets her parting shots at the man who left her so long ago.Xover with HP


Title: Too Late For Comfort  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-13  
Disclaimers: Joss and J.K. own all but Caroline.  
Spoilers: season 5, book 5  
Summary: A dying woman gets her parting shots at the man who left her so long ago.  
A/N: I like the idea. So sue me if it's a bit corny. The opening line comes from page 123, roughly the fifth sentence of _Gone with the Wind_. I was cleaning out my files and found something about taking the fifth sentence on page 123 from the nearest book and was bored so I did this. (Okay, so the nearest book was _Breakfast of Champions, _but I have so many books by me right now, it's kinda hard to judge which one is closest. That and it didn't really make any sense, so I used the _GwtW_ one. But I did add it as well.)

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Too Late For Comfort

"It is kind of you to recall me." her voice sounded like dry ash being rustled around by the wind. He remembered it being sweet, once long ago it was like a sweet summer breeze. Now it was cold and very nearly dead.

"As if I could begin to forget our association, my dear." Albus' eyes crinkled as he smiled down at the woman in his arms.

"I thought you had forgotten me." Caroline said quietly, trying to suppress the cough in her dry throat.

"Never." Albus said forcefully.

"Got distracted, forgot, what's the difference?" A single tear slipped down her cheek. "I thought your war had killed you."

"Not just yet, it hasn't."

"You haven't been back in nearly fifty years." Caroline said, struggling for her next breath. "You've missed out on too much, Albus."

"I have missed you, Caroline."

"Not enough to come back to us, Albus." Caroline said, looking away.

"Us?"

"Your daughter is dead, Albus. Joyce died six months ago."

Albus Dumbledore stared quietly ahead as Caroline struggled to breathe evenly between coughing fits. On the mantle of her fireplace, a silver picture frame with a happy couple and two young children smiled back at him. The boy was dark haired like his father, but the girl who was easily two or three years older was blond. She stuck out a bit from the rest of the family, her mother's light brown hair the only thing similar to her. Her eyes sparkled. He had always assumed that Peter was her father, Caroline had never made contact with him after they had been attacked by vampires so many years ago.

"And her family?" Albus asked quietly.

"Buffy is looking after Dawn. Her good-for-nothing ex is off in Spain somewhere." Caroline coughed. "I'd bring them here, but -"

Caroline coughed harder, and suddenly Albus disappeared as the nurse bustled into the room. She looked nervously around her. Most of the patients weren't supposed to have visitors, and those who didn't had ended up talking to themselves. The nurse shuddered. It was creepy the way they did that.

"Is everything okay, Mrs. Curtis?" The nurse said smiling, acting as if this were a resort instead of a nursing home. "You seem to be having some trouble breathing normally."

"Happens when you're dying." Caroline said between coughs.

"Let me get you a breathing mask, okay? You should be able to sleep through the night then."

"Whatever." Caroline wanted to get rid of the girl. When she was sure that the nurse was down the hall after putting the breathing mask over her face, she whispered his name.

"I'm here."

"I want you to go." Her words were muffled.

"Caroline -"

"Albus, I'm dying. What do you want with me?" A tear trickled down her cheek. Before his visit, she'd made peace with the world. Her baby girl would be waiting for her on the other side. It had been too long since she'd seen Joyce and the girls. Tim had gone to the funeral for her.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you always knew." Caroline said quietly. "You always knew she wasn't Peter's, even without me telling you, you knew."

"But?"

"I didn't want Joyce caught up in that war of yours. I didn't want her to be anything like you." Another tear fell down her cheek. "But she was. She was so much like you. Her smile, her love, her compassion. She was more of a Dumbledore than a Curtis."

"Caroline."

"I've lost too many people, Albus. I lost Peter, and our little Celia. And now Joyce. I've got nothing holding me here." she paused. "Not even you."

"Then I'll go." Albus said rising. He had nearly made it to the door when she whispered his name.

"Albus?"

"Yes."

"Look after Buffy and Dawn. From the evil in the world." she said quietly.

"I will."

"Thank you."

The surface of West Virginia, with its coal and trees and topsoil gone, was rearranging what was left of itself in conformity with the laws of gravity. Albus Dumbledore watched from the trees of the small cemetery at St. Anne's church as Caroline Joyce Miller Curtis was buried. Her son Timothy, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren Elizabeth and Jacob and a handful of friends from the home were there. Albus felt the tears slip down his face.

As the minister droned on about eternal happiness, Albus let his mind drift off to that warm summer day nearly fifty years ago when he'd been in West Virginia last. He'd gone to a carnival with his brother. A petite honey-haired woman had bummed into him and had tried to apologize. He still remembered the first words she'd said to him.

"Sorry about that." Then she had smiled, holding her hand up. "Lemon drop?"

Albus waited until the other mourners had left and placed a handful of lemon drops on her tombstone. Then he quickly disapparated. He would be needed in Southern California. His granddaughters needed him. He just hoped that he wasn't too late.


End file.
